Ink Review: Bung Box Sakurasaku (3Rd Anniversary)

[webgeckos]

This is a review of a Limited Edition ink made by Sailor for Bung Box. Each glass bottle had a number on the bottom that was molded in the glass. There were only one hundred bottles of this ink made. By sheer dumb luck I happened onto one. I bought for a friend that was dying to get it. They gave me the sample used for this review.

 

The bottle was rather beautiful, (image taken from Bung Box's Facebook page.) The ribbon and seal were a nice little add-on that made the entire opening festive and special. According to Bung Box, Sakurasaku means to celebrate.

 

 

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm186/webgecko1webgeckos/Screen%20Shot%202016-01-30%20at%206.02.14%20AM_zpsf9ex4gtt.png

 

 

This ink behaved very strangely from the normal Bung Box ink:

 

• The ink had no discernible sheen, even on Tomoe River paper with a medium (modern) flexible italic nib.
• On Tomoe paper the ink looked a bright red leaning a bit toward pink.
• On 32 pound HP Premium Laser paper, it looked almost like a cotton candy pink with some red.
• On both papers the ink felt dry, less so on the Tomoe but I noticed it.
• I was very surprised by the apx. 9 second drying time on Tomoe, I found that very unusually fast.

This is the paper towel droplet:

 

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm186/webgecko1webgeckos/Droplet_papertowel_zpsgjqlya26.png

 

I used the same pen on both pages: a TWSBI 580 AL. The nib is a MED, modified by Pendleton Brown with his lovely BLS Italic Flex.

 

The Tome River paper:

 

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm186/webgecko1webgeckos/BB_3rd_Tomoe_zpsszgpcccn.png

And the HP paper:

 

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm186/webgecko1webgeckos/BB3rd_HP_zpshuotdwef.png

 

Finally: to demonstrate how different they are:

 

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm186/webgecko1webgeckos/BB3rd_side_zpsrucosvfg.png

 

These were scanned together and overlapped. I couldn't quite get the HP paper color corrected.

 

 

This would be a great ink if you liked pinkish-red and dry inks without sheen. I was afraid to try this in a vintage pen, but I might take one and use it as a dip pen to see if it will behave different under gold.

 

I didn't do the water test as every flat surface has varieties of Apricot inks drying, and I wanted to post this before I forget.

[visvamitra]

Meh But thank you for the review.

[webgeckos]

Yeah it was the only Bung Box disappointment for me, most of the others I have loved.

[Luma]

I really like the color of the paper towel droplet. Too bad about the sheen.

 

Such a drastic difference though between TR and the HP. On my screen it's showing a lot of pink undertones.

 

Great review.

[webgeckos]

Yes, on the HP I felt my eyes start to bleed.

[Luma]

O.o that painful, eh?

[lapis]

Thanks for the review. Very carefully made. I sure don't know why they didn't pick at least a "nice" or "interesting" colour for an ink that was apparently created to celebrate some situation................

 

Mike

[haruka337]

Disappointing to hear that the ink runs dry. The only other dry Bung Box Ink that I'm aware of is Matador Red.

 

Post Edit: They've re-released this color for a limited time. It sold out in their Amazon store, but they'll likely restock.

[fireant]

Yeah it was the only Bung Box disappointment for me, most of the others I have loved.

 

 

But sakura is a cherry blossom. If they were trying to emulate this, they made a slightly bolder color, but it's nice if you like pinks.

[amberleadavis]

OOOO Very pretty!!

[bstambler]

MIght be still worth it for the bottle alone. I've not encountered any properly dry inks from BB but some have run less wet than others, BB Happiness doesn't quite gush the same way that Sapphire and Fresh Oranges seem to do